1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeding device for feeding sheets, a dust remover which is to be incorporated in the feeding device, and a data processing apparatus such as a printer and a facsimile incorporating the feeding device and the dust remover. More particularly, the invention is concerned with a technique for removing dust from surfaces of the sheets which are piled in a sheet accommodator of the device or apparatus and which are to be fed toward an inside of the device or apparatus, for thereby preventing a large amount of dust from being accumulated in the inside of the device or apparatus.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There is known an automatic sheet feeder, which is incorporated in a recording apparatus such as an inkjet printer, for feeding recording media (e.g., cut paper sheets) toward an inside of the apparatus, so that each recording medium is subjected to a recording operation achieved by a recording portion of the apparatus. The sheet feeder includes a medium accommodator (e.g., slanted tray) for accommodating the recording media piled therein, so that the media are supplied or fed one after another from the medium accommodator toward the recording portion. If the recording media are left on the medium accommodator for a long period of time, a large amount of dust could collect on the recording media, particularly, on an exposed surface of an uppermost one of the piled media. The large amount of the collecting dust, when the recording medium is fed to the recording portion, are likely to be carried by the recording medium to the recording portion, thereby possibly causing clogging of nozzles of the recording portion and the consequent deterioration in a quality of recording.
JP-A-2001-48359 discloses a dust cover which serves to solve the above-described problem. This dust cover is provided by a lid-like member which is formed from a single rectangular plate made of synthetic resin and having four sides. The lid-like dust cover has a top wall, three side walls which are formed by bending three of the four sides of the rectangular plate so as to be held in perpendicular to the top wall, and an opening which is defined by the top wall and mutually opposed two of the three side walls. The lid-like dust cover is used to cover an upper surface of a stacker of a cut-sheet feeder, by disposing the dust cover on the cut-sheet feeder, with the opening of the dust cover being directed downwardly. However, the lid-like dust cover has to be necessarily given a large length or height, since it is designed to cover an entirety of the upper surface of the stacker and an entire surface of each of cut sheets piled on the stacker. Further, in a process of manufacturing the lid-like dust cover, it is necessary to bend the sides of the resin-made rectangular plate having such a large size that permits the plate to cover the entire surface of each cut sheet, thereby requiring a cumbersome operation and a high cost for the manufacture.
JP-A-2002-273981 discloses an arrangement in which a recorder cover member is pivotably attached to a housing member of a printer while a sheet-feeder cover member is pivotably attached at its proximal end portion to the recorder cover member. The sheet-feeder cover is constantly held in contact at its distal end portion with an upper end of a rearwardly-inclined back wall of a sheet feeder, so as to be held in its closed position. The sheet-feeder cover has a recess formed in its distal end portion (see FIG. 4 of JP-A-2002-273981) and having a width which is larger than a width of sheets piled on the back wall of the sheet feeder, for thereby permitting the piled sheets to extend upwardly through the recess while the sheet-feeder cover is being held in its closed position. However, due to a gap between a bottom of the recess and a surface of an uppermost one of the piled sheets, it is not possible to satisfactorily prevent dust from entering a space between the surface of the uppermost sheet and a guide surface of the housing member (which is opposed to the back wall of the sheet feeder). That is, in this arrangement, the above-described conventional problem still can not be solved.